Coachella's Steve Brown is no stranger to the public sector, but calls his recent appointment to City Council a somewhat abrupt move into the spotlight.

"I'm usually the guy behind the scenes," he said. "Now I'm in front."

In less than 30 minutes Tuesday evening, Coachella City Council unanimously picked Brown to fill the vacancy left when Council member V. Manuel Perez resigned on May 10. Brown was officially sworn into office following the vote.

He will serve out the remainder of Perez's term until November 2018.

Perez, who was 2 1/2 years into a 4-year term, was tapped earlier this month by Gov. Jerry Brown to fill the vacancy on the RIverside County Board of Supervisors created when former Fourth District Supervisor John Benoit passed away in December.

The Desert Sun spoke at length with Brown this week about his past experience in the private and public sector, his failure to retire not just once, but twice, and what his plans are for his upcoming 1 1/2-year term.

A: "I grew up in Los Angeles and lived there until my wife and I moved here in 1994," Brown said.

Brown had been working in the private sector for years, using his master's degree in psychology to work with children who were dealing with addiction for 12 years before going into development.

He first came to the Coachella Valley to work with the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, building special needs apartments in Cathedral City meant to be accessible for people with HIV/AIDS.

After that project, Brown began working with the Desert AIDS project in Palm Springs as a housing coordinator.

Q: What experience do you have working for the city of Coachella?

Brown was approached one day in 1999 by a member of Coachella City Council who had seen his work on numerous community committees and thought he would be a good candidate for the vacant housing director position within the city.

"I said, 'No, I don't know anything about government, I just learned about nonprofits!' " he said. "But I obviously applied."

After being hired, Brown spent the next 11 years climbing the ranks in the city government, first as housing director, then as a department head and finally as assistant city manager.

"It was great, because I don't speak Spanish, I'm not Hispanic, yet the community embraced me," he said. "When people know you're here to help them and want to improve the quality of their life, they see that. There's no language barrier."

Brown retired from Coachella in 2010, but soon began working with the Desert Healthcare District as the director of community relations.

Four days after retiring a second time last year, Brown said he was lying by the pool with a drink in his hand when he got a call from Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, who was mayor of Coachella during Brown's tenure at the city.

"Are you happy?" Brown remembers Garcia asking him.

When Brown said, "Yes," Garcia rebuffed him.

"No, you're not happy," he said. "You'll be happy serving the community and the people."

"I couldn't say no to that," Brown said.

Now, Brown works for Garcia as a special assistant, representing him at the Coachella office when the Assemblymember can't be there and acting as a liaison between the Legislature and the Desert Healthcare District during the passage of AB 2414, which expanded the district's borders to include eastern Coachella Valley cities such as North Shore, Mecca and Oasis.

"It was the warmest welcome back I've ever had," Brown said.

Steve Brown, seen here speaking at a Memorial Day tribute at the General Patton Memorial Museum, will serve out the remainder of V. Manuel Perez's term on Coachella City Council.(Photo: Courtesy of Steve Brown)

His position with the assemblymember was intended to be temporary, Brown said, and could be over as soon as the end of this year.

Back in the realm of government, Brown said he leapt at the chance to apply for the Coachella Council vacancy, which he said would allow him to act as a policymaker in the city he calls home.

He was the only person to submit an application, according to City Manager Bill Pattison.

As someone who has worked with all levels of government, Brown thinks he will bring with him a wealth of experience that will be helpful in the abbreviated term he will serve.

"With my experience of working with the city and the agencies the city works with, I don't have that learning curve," he said. "It can take a good few months for someone to learn the ropes and I don't have that."

Q: How have you seen the city change since you first moved there almost a decade ago?

When Brown moved to Coachella, it was because he wanted to be a true member of the community for which he worked.

Projects such as the new multimillion-dollar library, which broke ground this month, and the city's first hotel, weren't possible when he was assistant city manager.

"When I left, things like the library, hotel ... they were just dreams. They weren't even concepts," he said. "So the fact is, it's changed dramatically."

Things such as the renovation of Veterans Park, the first LGBT Pride parade in the east valley and the expansion of retail opportunities have made it so that Brown and his wife of 33 years, Hilda, no longer have to leave the city to find what they need.

"It's definitely a different Coachella 10 years later and it will be totally different in another 10 years," he said. "I hope to be a part of that."

Q: What will be your main focus during your time on the City Council?

One of Brown's pet projects when he worked as assistant city manager was improving the Eleanor Senior Center, which is a cornerstone of the downtown.

Mayor Steven Hernandez has expressed interest in renovating the senior center in the past, and Brown said he would want to make that a reality during his time on council.

Brown said he's also inspired by the city's push for increased literacy in partnership with its new library and the Coachella Valley Unified School District.

"I'm going to work very closely with them trying to get that initiated," he said.